We’re continuing our discussion with Australian researcher, Dr. Simon Southerton. In this next episode, we’re going to dig into the science deeper. What is the Cohen Haplotype?

GT: I know the Cohen haplotype is this genetic marker…

We’ll also talk about the Lemba Tribe.

Simon: All the Cohen is, is a particular Y-Chromosome which was present in the Lemba Tribe. Now this is a tribe, they look African. They are in Zimbabwe,[1] which is what—is that its current name? Yes, I think that’s its current name. They had oral traditions that were Jewish. They built very significant stone-walled cities, but most scholars rejected the fact that they were Jewish.

It’s not uncommon for native people all around the world to claim that they have got Jewish ancestry. The Polynesians loved the fact that they think they are Jewish, because it ties them into the sort of Christian world that they like. Anyway, it was rejected, and then they did the DNA work and they found that they have got a Semitic Y-Chromosome, in particular this Y-Chromosome which seems particularly common in the males of the priestly class, the Jewish priestly class. So, it just confirmed conclusively that there was Jewish DNA that arrived down there.

How is that helpful for looking for Book of Mormon DNA in the Americas?

Simon: Yes, it is a clear case of how DNA, even though it is a fairly small incursion of DNA, they have been able to track it.

GT: Would you expect to find something similar in the Americas if that were the case?

Simon: I didn’t expect to see every single Native American being a Jew, having Jewish DNA. I thought at least there had to be something. I don’t know what that percentage is, but we’re down now to nothing. Fifteen and a half thousand Native Americans have been tested, their mitochondrial DNA tested. It’s all Asian with a smattering of African, there is quite a lot of African DNA.